Near, the Babysitter
by Rani-Girl
Summary: Slight AU. Wanting to annoy Mello, his girlfriend sends their kid to Near for a month, despite the fact that he has no idea what to do with the kid and would rather work on a case. Not to mention, little Matty has a habit of crawling all over people and is currently teething.
1. Day 1 Part 1

**I don't own Death Note. The story is somewhat AU because in it Mello is alive, somehow has a girlfriend and a kid, and my ocs are related to Gevanni. Takes place three years after Death Note.**

_**DN**_

"Vroom! Vroom!"

Most twenty-one year olds don't play with toys anymore. Most twenty-one year olds are not Nate River, also known as Near. Said detective was playing with his toy cars, running them over a plastic track, making 'vroom' noises. He was also debating in his head if any and which of the cases he'd reviewed earlier that morning were interesting enough to take.

Near stopped moving. Something had crawled onto his back. That something started slobbering on his ear and the hair around it. Slowly, dropping the toy, he reached over his shoulder and picked up the something, bringing it in front of his face.

It was a toddler. A little boy, about two years old, with short blonde hair and greyish-blue eyes, wearing jean overalls over a striped-red shirt and Elmo sneakers.

Near knew who the kid was. The question was, how did he get here?

"Lidner? Gevanni?" he started to ask the pair standing behind him. "Why is Mello's son here?"

"Look at his back," Lidner answered.

He turned the boy around. A note was pinned his overalls, the handwritting obviously belonging to the boy's mother. Not bothering to unpin it, he began reading.

_'Ello Near._

_Now, you little bunny rabbit, I bet your wondering what little Matty is doing in your head quarters and/or how he got there._

_First thing's first. Deciding to take the oppurtunity to make Mello angry (make note of this bunny-boy, if you ever meet a girl with a temper and strange wit, and she happens to be in a bad mood and unarmed, NEVER ask if she is on her period) I've decided to send Matthew to you. Whenever Mello figures out where he's at or a month has gone by he can come home. 'Til then you're his new babysitter. If anything happens to him your dead. :) Oh, and, don't try pasing him off to someone else until further notice. My brother has already gotton his warning/threats to tell me. I can't have fun torturing the chocoholic if Matty aint with you and I CAN hack into your system, lock your bodygaurds in a closet, and beat you up._

_As for the second part; figure out, you're supposed to be smart._

_- Rebecca Loud_

"Gevanni," Near began.

"Yes?"

"Remind me why you allowed your sister meet Mello?"

Gevanni rolled his eyes. Near knew he had nothing to do with younger sister meeting the former Mafia boss.

The white haired boy took the note and bobby pin off of Matty. Keeping the toddler a safe distance away from him, he stood up and held him out to the pair. Lidner and Gevanni glanced at each other through the corner of their eyes.

"Send him back," Near ordered.

"Actually, that's not possible," the toddler's uncle said.

"Why not?" The detective watched Gevanni take a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket. Lidner took Matty. He handed it to him.

_Stephan,_

_Unless you feel like peeing through a tube for the rest of your life and have become sick of having arms, keep Matty with Near. This is about payback, as you'll probably read from the note on Matty's back. If the rabbit messes up badly or gives him to someone else, tell me, or I'll find out another way and damage your arms. Oh, and we switched living areas again, so no sending him back!_

_- Love, your stronger-than-you-sister._

"How are you related..." Near gave the letter back. "He had to of come here with someone. Who was it and if you know, where are they now?"

"Actually, Rester found him crawling through the halls," Lidner explained, yanking her hair out of the baby's mouth. "He checked the security cameras, but they were apparently down from 12:03 to 12:13."

He nodded. Either Rebecca or one of her and Mello acquaintances/friends had hacked into the cameras and disabled them, giving them time to let the child loose in the building. "I see." He started twirling a lock of hair in his fingers. "And no one noticed this until Rester found him?"

"Um..." They both looked embarresed for a moment.

'_Idiots_.' Still, there was the toddler to take care of. He could contact Mello, tell him where the two year old was, and be done with the situation. But there were the toddler's mother's threats. She HAD put a few of his agents in the hospital once...

"Send him back anyway."

"But they - "

"I doubt any one of us knows how to take care of an infant, much less this one." Near explained, watching Matty grabbed Lidner's hair with one hand and her ear in the other. Grimacing, she lightly slapped his hands off of her. "The move was probably a lie."

"I already checked that," Lidner said. "They did move. The place is completely empty." Apparently sick of the child's antics, she roughly passed Matty to Gevanni. He tilted his head back as the boy tried to stick a finger up his nose.

"Then find their new address and send him back. I have cases to take." He turned back to his toys.

"You could call Mello," the woman suggested.

"I already thought of that. Personally, I don't feel like letting either of them know I was aware the kid was here. You two and Rester can take the blame of finding him, realizing it was a stupid idea, and sending him home. All without my knowledge."

"I really don't like that idea." Gevanni glared at him.

"You're really scared of your younger sister." he scoffed. "How old are you now?"

"You don't know the stunts she pulled when we were younger!" he snapped, thinking specifically of the time she pushed him out the third story window of their house for hiding one of her dolls. She'd been in _first grade_ at the time.

"I don't care. I'm not - " Near stopped talking when he heard the door slam shut and felt Matty climb on his back again, giggling. He pressed a button on the computer near him. Rester's face appeared on the screen. "Rester, could you please find Mell-"

"I apologize, Near, but we really don't need anymore agents in the hospital," he said. The screen went blank.

Sighing, Near glanced at the toddler clinging to his shoulder. "I should consider finding new emploees."

_**DN**_

**I'm not sure how I like this first chapter. Should I continue, rewrite, or delete this?**


	2. Day 1 Part 2

**Second chapter. Thanks for the reviews/story alerts/favorites! Oh, and I might change the rating to T if I ever feel that something I put in the story is too mature for for K+. But don't worry, there will be nothing worth M!**

_**DN**_

After leaving the toddler with Near, Lidner and Gevanni went in different directions, the former to make a phone call, the latter to get baby supplies. Matty had been left without any supplies and it didn't take a genius to figure out there were none here.

Lidner dialed Mello's cell phone number. Unlike Gevanni and Near she wasn't scared of Rebecca, not to mention the many reasons that sending Matty to Near was not a good idea. (The toddler could choke on one of Near's toys, no one knew how to take care of a toddler, increasing the risk of him getting injured, he could disrupt or delay a case, ect.)

A few moments later a woman's voice answered, "Hello?"

Lidner scowled. "Why do you have Mello's cell phone?"

Rebecca laughed. "Well, you see - "

"REBECCA, GIVE THAT BACK!" she heard Mello shout then a door slam.

"- He left his cell phone laying around and since he wasn't around I answered it for him."

"I CAN HEAR YOU! THAT IS NOT TRUE! GIVE MY PHONE BACK!"

"He's a little upset that he can't find Matty," she continued to explain.

Linder sighed. She should've suspected that the woman would do this. Of course she wouldn't want Mello finding out where their son was yet. It would ruin her own 'fun'. Smart, idiotic, sadistic, woman.

"Well, I gotta go. I think he's going to try getting Matty's whereabouts out of me again. Please don't call again, Halle. Tell my brother 'hi'!" The line went dead.

Lidner ended her end of the call. There was no point in trying again since Rebecca would probably do the same thing again. It looked like they were stuck with the baby for now.

_DN_

Near glared at Matty, twisting a lock of hair and stacking legos instead of dice for once. The tiny blonde had snatched his alien action figure and stuck it's head in his mouth to chew on. Needless to say, Near wasn't happy about that. He'd tried snatching it back only to find his hand bitten.

That was why he was barricading the toddler in a cell made of legos that would eventually be too heavy for Matty to knock down and too high to climb over. He couldn't steal any of his other toys this way. Near was just lucky that he hadn't moved since the construction started. So far the white-haired boy was half-way done.

Matty stared back, still chewing.

It was like the two were in an eye staring contest; neither wanted to be the first to break eye contact, because then he would lose the game.

They continued staring and chewing on a toy/building a lego cell in silence for the next twenty minutes. By that point Near was was just a few blocks away from finishing while his toy had a mutilated head. Matty took the toy out of his mouth and started speaking.

"Where your bunny ears and tail?"

Near placed the final two legos and stood up. "Despite what your mother has said, I'm not an animal."

"Then you a big headed twit?"

"No, your father just has an inferiority complex disorder."

Matty scrunched up his face in confusion, not understanding. Standing up, he pushed against one wall. It didn't budge. Near watched emotionlessly as Matty repeatedly pushed against the walls. Losing interest, he turned to his laptop to look over his potential cases again. The fact there was a toddler temporarily forced into his care was not going to keep him from working.

Unfortunately for him, Matty stilled had his alien action figure. Frustrated at not being able to escape, he grabbed the toy and chucked it over the wall, hitting the back of Near's head. His hand immediately went to the back of his head on reflex. Picking up the fallen toy, Near examined it's head before glaring at the child.

He almost wished the tiny blonde had started crying instead.

It was at that point that Lidner decided to come back in. "Uhh..."

"Lidner, please tell you were able to get a hold of Mello," the older boy said, not looking at her. It had been obvious earlier that she wasn't fond of the idea of having the toddler here either, plus there was the fact that she could contact the blonde.

"No, I didn't. Rebecca stole his phone. What are you doing?" The scene in front of her was far from normal. Or maybe it was fact that Matty was in a cage made of legos that threw her off.

Instead of answering, Near went to one of his computers and started typing.

Linder picked Matty up out of his prison. Legos wouldn't make a good... playpen. She held him a few inches away from her hair, hoping he wouldn't bite or pull it again. She doubted that Near would be able to contact Mello, but who knew? Maybe they'd be rid of the child soon. Children didn't belong in this building.

Matty attempted to bite her hand, causing her to set him on the floor again, but not in the lego cage. The two year old wobbled over to Near, grabbing his pant leg.

"Lidner, please put him back in his cell."

"Isn't that a little harsh or inhumane?"

The tiny blonde tried unsuccessfully to climb up his leg.

"I wouldn't think so."

"Why did you put him - "

"Ow!" Near yelped, jumping away from the computer.

Matty grinned, happy with this reaction. He'd lifted Near's pant leg and sunk his four front teeth into his ankle.

Near glared at him, then looked at Lidner. "Do you have a better idea?"

"Now I get it," she muttered to herself. "Gevanni went to the store. He's on his way back with a playpen for Matthew."

"There's no need for that. I'll have -" Near took a step back as Matty took one toward him. He didn't want to be bitten again. "- someone take him back -" he took another step back when the toddler followed him, "- to his parents soon. I just have to find someone who's not scared of and/or an ally of Rebecca's. Tell Gev- AAH!" He fell backwards into the lego cell, breaking part of the wall. Pieces scattered around the floor.

Laughing, Matty ran to his feet, which were sticking out of the cell, and started pulling his toes.

Clumsiness was not a quality of Near's. This kid was also making him irratated, an emotion he normally wouldn't let blind his judgement. If the toddler didn't leave him alone soon that was going to change. Getting up, he scooped up the kid and exited the room, Lidner following.

"Where we goin'?" Matty asked from under his arm.

Near ignored him.

They got into the elevator, taking it to the ground floor. Near walked out of it first, heading towards the front doors.

"I no wanna play outside," the tiny blonde huffed.

Ahead of them was Rester and Gevanni. (Rester was helping bring the baby supplies in.) Both looked surprised to see an irratated-looking Near on the ground floor, holding Matty under one arm. Lidner, who was walking behind him, was wearing a curious expression. She obviously didn't understand what was going on either.

Gevanni dropped the bags he was holding when his nephew was shoved into his arms.

"Your nephew; you take care of him." With that, Near's stoic expression returned and he turned back towards the elevator.

Matty gave his uncle a look that seem to say, 'What's his problem?'

_DN_

"Where is he?"

"Not telling."

"Why not?"

"Because of your stupid comment!"

"I already said 'sorry'!"

"Too late."

Mello took a bite of chocolate. This was getting nowhere.

He'd figured out that Rebecca was behind the disappearance by her lack of concern. He'd tried getting it out of her the night before to no avail. After interrogating her friends and still finding nothing, he'd come home to think of a new plan. His cell phone had started ringing and it was stolen by her. Rebecca locked herself in the bathroom, talking to whoever it was. He could hear her half of the conversation until she'd moved away from the door. Then she deleted his call history, unlocked the door, and gave it back.

Why he thought giving her another chance to fess up who had Matthew would work, he didn't know. Time for Plan B.

Whoever had the two year old had his number. All he had to do was figure out who that person was. Considering the number of still-living people who had his phone number, this was going to take a while. Well, he was probably with someone responsible enough to take care of their kid. He could mark Near off his list for now.

_**DN**_

**Again, not quite happy with how this came out, even with the revisions. Anyway, that's probably going to be the only scene where Mello makes an actual appearance until the end of the story. I don't want to write about a possibly endless search for a two year old right now.**

**Tell me what you think!**


End file.
